


Stone

by kamiyas



Category: the underland chronicles
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-08-29
Packaged: 2017-12-24 23:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/946015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamiyas/pseuds/kamiyas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He closes his eyes, and thinks of the stone knight at the Cloisters. He is still that knight, still, even though there’s nothing for him to fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Um, I think this is the first Underland Chronicles fic on here?? So wow, go me.

Gregor is thirteen and at his grandmother’s funeral. It’s been only a month since his family returned to the Overland, and the numbness is still there. He can force no tears from his eyes; his mind spins with thoughts of those he’d lost before.  
He closes his eyes, and thinks of the stone knight at the Cloisters. He is still that knight, still, even though there’s nothing for him to fight.

 

Gregor is fourteen and starting his first day at his new school in Virginia. He goes through the day in a haze; voices crowd around his mind, fellow students introducing themselves, attempting to talk to him. He knows that if he doesn’t answer they’ll say he’s rude, stuck-up. They’ll call him weird, ask him why he never wears anything but jeans and sweatshirts, even when it’s summer, but he just doesn’t care.

 

Gregor is fifteen and in New York for the first time since his family had moved to Virginia. They stay in a hotel room, instead of with Mrs. Cormaci, knowing that being in the old apartment building, too close to the opening in the basement, for too long would bring back too many memories.  
They go to dinner with Mrs. Cormaci and afterwards Gregor excuses himself to walk through Central Park. He still remembers where the exact spot the entrance to the Underland is, and he stops there, leans down and places his hand on the rock and thinks of Luxa. It would be so easy, he thinks, to just move the rock and slip down, leaving everything in the Overland behind. It would feel like going home.  
He reaches into his jacket pocket, and removes a photo of the stone knight. He takes a deep breath, returns it to his pocket, and walks out of Central Park.

 

Gregor is sixteen and he’s just been expelled. He cannot, in all honesty, bring himself to care. He’d bumped the quarterback as he passed him in the hallway, and before he knew it, the senior had been hitting him, over and over. Without thinking, the rager sensation took over. By the time he’d been pulled away, the other kid had had a broken nose, split lip and swiftly swelling left eye.  
Sitting in the principal’s office, he knows words are being directed at him, but all he hears is a slight buzzing. He looks down and notices the blood on his knuckles. He doesn't wash it away until after the long lecture from his parents he receives once home.

 

Gregor is seventeen and he’s in New York again, this time alone. He’s standing in the basement of his old apartment, the smell of mold in his nose. He has nothing with him other than the photo of the stone knight, and the black bat toy Boots had given him those many years ago. He removes the grate from the vent and quickly makes his way down. The way to Regalia is long, but it's worth it when he finally gets to the palace and sees the smile that bursts onto Luxa’s face when she sees him.


End file.
